Longevity starts from having a daughter in old age

Watching the Divine Music Academy students who had just finished their performance, Qingyan who was in a purple robe being a senior musician of the Musician Mansion, nodded in satisfaction.

This time, the Musician Mansion had only ten slots for selection, which had long been pre-fixed with the Divine Music Academy taking up six and the ordinary musicians taking up four. It was merely a formality now.

The Sea Race empire has been around for many years, and apart from the responsibilities that must be handled by the Imperial Clan, all other privileges had long been divided. The web of vested interests is rooted deeply, making it impossible for outsiders not having any connections to enter this circle.

Those ordinary musicians who didn’t know this and were still foolishly dreaming of becoming a court musician to rise to the sky, it was simply a pipe dream.

In the eyes of Qingyan and the others, it was as ridiculous as a clown.

Ordinary musicians stepped up one after another, doing their best to perform their most proficient pieces. There was no exceptional talent, but there were some dazzling performers that were refreshing.

Qingyan made a note of the characteristics of each performer, planning to take them under his wing after the selection and have them compose music for him.

There are also evaluations within the Musician Mansion, musicians like him in purple robes must produce new pieces from time to time, otherwise their salaries would be docked, or even be demoted.

The musicians of the Musician Mansion start from the lowest level of white robe, followed by blue robe, purple robe, silver robe, gold robe, and the highest black robe.

In the Sea Race Empire, black is supreme!

Other than the reason that the Imperial Clan of the Sea Race Empire has black skin, black also represents water.

Although the purple robe is only the third level, it still holds a prestigious position outside, enjoying higher privileges than some Golden Pill level guards. He had worked hard to get there, of course, he didn’t want to be demoted.

Not only him, every musician in the Musician Mansion keeps a few dependents to compose music for him.

These dependents are usually unsuccessful civilian musicians, who have low cultivation levels but like to play with music. They truly deserve to be exploited.

Not only was this Qingyan’s thought, but it was also the thought of all the musicians in the Musician Mansion.

It seemed like they became noble after joining the Musician Mansion.

Just when Qingyan and others thought this selection proceeded smoothly as always, a young man from the Black Serpent tribe appeared on stage.

Just by his appearance, he didn’t look very old. The Sea Race has their own method of judging age, not much different from humans.

This young Sea Race would usually be more eager to pursue promotions to faster posts, like a palace gate keeper or an attendant, so not many join the Musician Mansion.

Of course, it’s not to say that young musicians are scarce, but those of this age usually do not possess high skills, so they are not going to shame themselves by coming here.

The young Snake Clan member took out his own instrument. It wasn’t the most popular harp of the Sea Race, but the nine-stringed zither which was widely circulated in the Human Clan region.

The strings of the zither emitted a faint white glow, repelling the surrounding seawater to let the music spread smoothly.

Faint thoughts and melancholy turned into notes, leaping from the strings and falling into everyone’s ears.

Even though there were no lyrics in the melody, it outlined a beautiful, innocent, sentimental, and tragic love story that everyone couldn’t help but immerse themselves in for a long time.

The music ended.

It took someone a while to react.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Who knew who started it, but the clapping spread quickly, ten by ten then a hundred, everyone clapped, except the students of the Divine Music Academy and the musicians of the Musician Mansion.

Qingyan’s expression became ugly; not because the performance was too poor, but because it was too exceptional.

He had never heard this piece before, and it was completely different from the current popular style. It was clearly a new creation by the performer, and it was too astonishing.

Regrettably, the positions had been pre-fixed. Now that the performer came out, as the person in charge, he would be in a difficult position.

“What are you doing! What the hell are you doing!”

Qingyan yelled at the crowd to quiet them down.

“Your performance is too unorthodox, the tune is all over the place, flashy but not substantial. You should go back and take a good look at the scores printed by the Musician Mansion! Next!”

Qingyan waved his hand, letting the young snake man step down.

The young snake man’s eyes flickered, and he quietly retreated into the crowd, his brows slightly furrowed.

“Are you kidding me, the renowned song of my previous life, Liang Zhu, has actually been criticized to this extent!”

Xu Mu was both surprised and speechless.

Yes, the snake man who just performed was none other than Xu Mu himself.

To ensure nothing went wrong, he didn’t hide his skills, immediately recalled the most famous ancient song of his previous life. As he expected, it was astonishing.

But this purple-robed musician from the Musician Mansion seemed not to like it.

“From the look on his face just now, he definitely recognized the extraordinary nature of the piece!”

Xu Mu had a bad conjecture flashing through his mind.

However, whether it was as he suspected, he would have to wait for the final list of selections to confirm.

With all the performances over, Qingyan and four blue-robed musicians went into the room at the back to discuss the final selection list. Xu Mu and the others waited for the result in the courtyard.

“My name is Han Rui! Brother Xu, your performance just now made me admire you to no end!”

Seizing the moment of respite, someone immediately stepped forward to greet Xu Mu.

Everyone here was a musician, capable of discerning good and bad compositions. Xu Mu outperformed everyone in both compositions and instrumental skills. Unless something unexpected happened, he would surely be selected. It was only natural to try and build a good rapport with him now.

“Brother Han is praising me too highly. This was merely a mediocre work,” Xu Mu responded with a smile.

“Brother Xu, you are too humble!”

Then someone else joined in.

“Right! Right! If this sheet music were to be included in the Musician Mansion’s collection, it would undoubtedly become immediately renowned throughout the Great Sea!”

Someone chimed in agreement.

“You are all too kind! Too kind!”

All Xu Mu could do was respond with modest denial.

Seeing his agreeable nature, more and more people gathered around him, singing his praises.

“With Friend Xu’s talents, joining the Musician Mansion is practically a certainty! We’ll have to rely on your care in the future!”

“Yes! Yes! Please take care of us!”

Just when everyone was showering Xu Mu with compliments, more than a dozen Divine Music Academy students started mocking him in a sarcastic tone.

“Dreaming of joining the Musician Mansion with that strange composition of yours!”

“Exactly! What a load of crap! Didn’t you hear the Master Musician’s critique just now?”

It seems there’s no love lost between scholars after all – and musicians are no exception.

In the face of the Divine Music Academy students’ mockery, the lively crowd immediately fell silent.

No one spoke up for Xu Mu.

The reason was simple – they were all pragmatic. Paying lip service was one thing, but it was not worth offending the students of the Divine Music Academy for his sake.

There was a high probability that these students would become court musicians. If they wanted to join the Musician Mansion in the future, they could not afford to offend these people.

“What is good is good, and what is bad is bad. Are you all deaf? If someone says shit tastes good, are you going to eat it?” Xu Mu retorted unabashedly.

If it were up to his primary consciousness, he’d choose to swallow his anger in order to ensure his safety. But now it was his clone, and since he had already stolen the spotlight, he didn’t mind making a little noise.

“What did you just call me, you piece of trash?!”

Several of the leading Divine Music Academy students were stunned before they burst into rage.

“Who did the trash call trash?” Xu Mu asked.

“The trash was talking to you!”

The students of the Divine Music Academy were seething with fury.

“Ooooh! So it’s the trash speaking!” Xu Mu pretended to be surprised.

“Ha ha! Mmmm!”

The civilian musicians who caught on couldn’t help but laugh, and then quickly covered their mouths.

“You bastard, dare to insult me?” A student from the Divine Music Academy bellowed.

“Who is the bastard insulting?”

“The bastard is insulting…sh*t! I’m going to kill you!”

Trying to take on Xu Mu with their knowledge alone, these academy students were no match for him and got ready to fight.

At that moment, Qingyan and his group of five came out of the room.

“What are you all doing?”

With a cold sneer from Qingyan, the Divine Music Academy students immediately stopped.

Qingyan glanced at the group but refrained from commenting further.

“I now announce the list of those selected!”

“Blood Branch, Green Vine, Water Mystery… Alright! Any name not mentioned may leave now!”

After Qingyan announced the list, all eyes unconsciously turned to Xu Mu, because his name was not on the list.

Xu Mu furrowed his brow but said nothing. He turned and started to walk out. Everyone else glanced at each other and hurriedly followed him out.

Han Rui, the person who first greeted Xu Mu, caught up with him and quickly sent him a message through divine intent.

“Friend Xu, do you want to know why you weren’t selected?”